The present invention relates to software, apparatus, and methods which create a system for converting back and white musical scores to colored musical scores that may be stored in a computer-readable medium, printed, electronically transmitted, and displayed in either a standard or linear format to correlate with colored keyboard instruments and other musical instrument overlays to facilitate and enhance a musical performance.
The large number of musical scores composed in the past contain notes written in a standard musical notation format, and, are generally printed in black ink on white paper. These scores range from the simple to the extremely complex. Conventionally, the process of learning to read and play conventional music scores requires both students and teachers to devote considerable time and effort to learn both an archaic printed musical notation system having only black and white, and the location of the corresponding notes on a musical instrument. Music is also read like an English book, in a line from left to right, and top to bottom. Also, conventional keyboard instruments are almost always manufactured with only black and white keys.
Notes in the conventional music notation system are arranged into octaves, with each octave having seven whole tones or steps, and five half tones or half steps. Thus, in a musical composition, there are many tones or steps corresponding to printed notes. They range from low tones in the lower octaves of the bass clef, to high tones in the upper octaves of the treble clef. Conventional keys on a keyboard musical instruments are typically colored in black and white. White represents the whole tones A-G, and black represents the tones which are a half-tone, or half-step, up or down from the whole tones. Black and white keys only minimally distinguish between the different whole tones and half-tones of a musical composition. Much time and effort is therefore required to learn a note""s location on a keyboard, or other musical instrument, and the corresponding note""s location on a printed page.
Heretofore, no musical notation system has incorporated a colored musical notation system into a corresponding colored musical score and keyboard instrument. What is, therefore, needed is a new system to facilitate and enhance the process of learning to read musical notation and to associate the notes on a printed page with the location of notes on a musical instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,221,143 to Lang purportedly discloses a system and apparatus for piano instruction having a colored board with a single color for each key. However, Lang fails to consider the half tones which lie between whole tones. Lang merely dismisses them and assigns a single color, failing to distinguish even the half tones from the whole tones.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,800 to Johnson et al. purportedly teaches a scale-based music notation system without the use of flats or sharps. However Johnson, as with Lang, failed to distinguish the half-tones from the whole tones through the use of a color selection scheme.
Further needs are to provide methods of converting old compositions from black and white into colorized musical score compositions utilizing a color notation system and systems and apparatus for correlating such colorized music scores to the notes on musical instruments.
Therefore, there is a need for a colored music notation system for writing and playing music that further includes apparatus and methods for converting black and white musical scores into colorized scores for printing, display, storage in a computer readable medium, or electronic transmission, that correlates with colored musical instrument overlays to facilitate and enhance a musical performance.
The present invention provides a musical notation system for creating colored music scores and colored musical instruments. The musical notation system according to the invention includes octaves, wherein the octaves include 12 tones. The 12 tones are divided into seven whole tones and five half tones. The half tones are a half step above and below whole tones. The seven whole tones include a color selected according to a master color matrix shown in Table A or Table B below, and the five half tones include a binary color set, wherein one color is selected according to the whole tone above the half tone, and the second color is selected according to the whole tone below the half tone. The colors for the half tones are selected according to either Table A or Table B.
In another embodiment, the musical notation system uses colors for the whole tones and the half tones only according to Table A.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the musical notation system uses colors for the whole tones and the half tones only according to Table B.
In another aspect of the present invention, a music score is provided. The music score includes notes which form a musical arrangement, wherein the notes representing whole tones and half tones are colored according to the musical notation system of the present invention. The colored notes are arranged on a staff. Optionally, the music score can omit the use of sharps, flats, or accidentals.
In another aspect of the present invention, a musical instrument is provided. The musical instrument includes a plurality of keys, wherein the keys define either a whole tone or a half tone and the keys include a color according to the music notation system of the present invention. The musical instrument further includes a container for holding the keys, such that the keys are arranged from the lowest to the highest tone. The musical instrument also includes means for sounding the whole notes and the half notes when the keys are played.
In another aspect of the present invention, a key overlay apparatus for colorizing a music instrument is provided. The overlay includes a sheet material having a first side and a back side, wherein the first side includes a colored area and the back side includes an applicator for applying the overlay to one or more keys of a musical instrument. The colored area is colored according to the musical notation system of the present invention. The overlay is applied so that the area is placed over a key, which defines a tone, and is matched to the color of the area.
In another aspect of the present invention, a music system is provided. The music system according to the present invention includes music scores wherein notes form an arrangement and the notes are colored in the music notation system according to the present invention. The music system includes a musical instrument having a plurality of keys for playing the whole tones and half tones, wherein the keys define either a whole tone or a half tone and the keys include a color according to the music notation system of the present invention. The musical instrument further includes a container for holding the keys from the lowest to the highest tone, and means for sounding the whole tones and the half tones when the keys are played.
In a further embodiment of the music system according to the present invention, an overlay device is provided. The overlay is positionable on a surface of one or more keys. The overlay includes a sheet material having a first and back side, wherein the first side includes a colored area and the back side includes an applicator. The colored area is colored according to the music notation system according to the present invention.
In yet another embodiment of the music system, a computer is provided to drive a display device capable of electronically displaying the colored music scores on a monitor, or a projector capable of projecting colored patterns corresponding to the notes being played on the musical instrument. The display can also include a monitor positionable on a music instrument.
In yet another embodiment of the music system according to the present invention, a student keyboard guide is provided which is capable of being positioned on the musical instrument adjacent the musical instrument keys. The student guide includes a graphical representation of the musical instrument keys, which are colored according to the music notation system of the present invention.
In yet another embodiment of the music system according to the present invention, an entertainment unit including a computer is provided. The entertainment unit provides a user with the ability to scan black and while music scores, print colorized music scores, save the colorized music scores, transfer the colorized music scores to a second computer, or edit the music scores. The entertainment unit can further include a speaker and a printer.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for converting music having a plurality of staff rows, into linear music having a single staff row is provided. The method includes steps for (a) obtaining a plurality of data structures, wherein each data structure includes a key signature field operable to provide timing and key designations, and a plurality of measure fields operable to contain notes; (b) removing the redundant key signature fields from each of the data structures; and (c) combining the remaining measure fields to produce a linear music score. The step of obtaining data structures is carried out using a scanner.
In yet another embodiment, the method can include a further step of saving the measure fields in a new file or transferring the measure fields to display the fields as a linear musical score.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method implementable on a computer system for converting music having a plurality of staff rows, into linear music having a single staff row is provided. The method includes steps for: (a) obtaining a plurality of data structures, wherein each data structure includes a key signature field operable to provide timing and key designations, and a plurality of note fields operable to provide music notes; (b) removing the redundant key signature fields from each of the data structures; and (c) combining the measure fields to produce a linear music score.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for transferring a computer program product from a first computer to a second computer connected to the first computer through a communications medium is provided. The method includes steps for: (a) accessing on a first computer, computer executable instructions for execution by a computer, the computer executable instructions for performing the method for converting music having a plurality of staff rows, into linear music having a single staff row; and (b) transferring the computer executable instructions from the first to the second computer.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a method for colorizing black and white musical scores into multi-colored musical scores is provided. The method includes steps for (a) obtaining a first data structure, wherein the data structure includes a plurality of note fields operable to contain a black and white note; (b) obtaining a second data structure, wherein the data structure includes a second note field operable to contain notes, a color field operable to be matched with the notes, and a pattern field operable to be matched with the notes; (c) matching the black and white note with the color field and the pattern field using the second note field; and (d) creating a third data structure, wherein the data structure includes a plurality of note fields operable to contain the newly colored and patterned note according to either Table A or B. In yet another embodiment, the first and the second data structure includes an octave field operable to be matched with the first and second note field to provide color and patterned notes for a plurality of octaves, colored according to Table A or B.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method implementable on a computer system for colorizing black and white musical scores into multi-colored musical scores is provided. The method includes steps for: (a) obtaining a first data structure, wherein the data structure includes a plurality of note fields operable to contain a black and white note; (b) obtaining a second data structure, wherein the data structure includes a second note field operable to contain notes, a color field operable to be matched with the notes, and a pattern field operable to be matched with the notes; (c) matching the black and white note with the color field and the pattern field using the second note field; and (d) creating a third data structure, wherein the data structure includes a plurality of note fields operable to contain a colored and patterned note according to Table A or B.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for transferring a computer program product from a first computer to a second computer connected to the first computer through a communications medium is provided. The method includes steps for: (a) accessing on a first computer, computer executable instructions for execution by a computer, the computer executable instructions for performing the methods for colorizing black and white musical scores into multi-colored musical scores according to the present invention, and (b) transferring the computer executable instructions from the first to the second computer.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a colorization routine for colorizing a black and white musical score into multi-colored musical score is provided. The method includes a step for scanning a raster image containing black and white notes. A step for obtaining the raw data containing the black and white note. A step which searches for note recognition. A step which creates note coordinates. A step which matches the note coordinates with a note database. A step which creates a note index in x, y, and z coordinates to color and pattern the note. A step to write the file, and a step to create a new raster image.
The present invention provides numerous advantages. The new musical notation system according to the invention provides more colors that can accelerate the music learning and playing process. The present invention provides for the use of a septuary method for writing and playing music, with each of the whole tones or steps being represented by a different color and the half tones or half steps being represented by a set of two colors, selected from the whole tone above and the whole tone below the half tone. Thus, an additional advantage provided by the present invention is the elimination of sharp or flat symbols adjacent to any notes. This is a simpler system of musical notation than the conventional black and white system which utilizes key signatures with sharps and flats.
The present invention further provides for retrofitting the keyboards of conventional music instruments with uniquely colored overlays to provide a correlation between the colored musical notation and the instrument. This system facilitates the learning and playing process since it makes both locating a particular key on a musical instrument easier, and also provides additional reference points for reading printed or displayed musical scores. This makes the reading process easier and faster as well. Thus, an additional advantage provided by the present invention is facilitating the playing of an instrument without music since a musician can play by employing basic music theory concepts such as by locating certain chords, or notes of chords, by reference to the colored instrument keys.
The present invention also fills the current demand for the rapid dissemination of information, since the new system according to the invention allows colorized music scores to be both printed on paper or saved in a computer-readable medium such as a compact disk or other digital media. This archival process is beneficial so that the new colorized music scores may also be displayed on video display monitors and transmitted over communication systems, such as the Internet, where end users may access the colorized compositions and download the colorized musical compositions on a home desktop or laptop computer.
Finally, the invention increases the enjoyment associated with learning and playing music by adding and using the element of color and, optimally, by the unique colored light displays correlated to the color musical notation system.